0 comments
Last week, Azerbaijan’s president announced an all-male panel for the global climate summit, which the country will host in December. This decision was immediately condemned by campaigners as regressive, sparking an inclusivity U-turn.
On January 15, the president of Azerbaijan announced that the organising committee for the COP29 global climate summit – which the country will host in December – would comprise 28 men and no women.
The decision was immediately condemned by campaigners as regressive, with one coalition rightly asserting that the ecological emergency ‘affects the whole world, not half of it.’
For the second year in a row, the United Nation’s most important environmental talks will be held in a petrostate heavily reliant on fossil fuel production.
As a result, almost every member of the proposed all-male panel has some involvement with the coal, oil, and gas industries.
The world is on fire, our climate is in crisis, women are disproportionately affected. So what’s the COP29 committee’s revolutionary idea to save the planet? Excluding women from decision making… of course! https://t.co/gFk9jmPNP5
— Women's Equality Party (@WEP_UK) January 16, 2024
While this is an issue in itself, balancing the scale has been a top priority for rights groups during the last week and some 75 female leaders from business, civil society, and academia have written to President Ilham Aliyev urging him to include ‘as many women as possible’ to guarantee the best outcomes for the negotiations.
‘This is a regressive step in the journey towards gender parity in climate; but there is still time for change,’ said She Changes Climate, a movement advocating for inclusion and diversity at each level of decision-making to address the crisis and shape a sustainable future for the entire planet.
‘We ask for equal representation in the governance of this year’s climate talks.’
Fortunately, it appears their cries were heard because 12 women have just today been added to the organising committee.
🔉| The president of Azerbaijan has added 12 women to the previously all-male #COP29 organising committee.
“This is positive progress but we're still far from a 50:50 gender balance. This is a quick fix but not enough.”
— Elise Buckle, #SHEChangesClimatehttps://t.co/j6pk4U2fkp
— SHE Changes Climate (@SheClimate) January 19, 2024
Among them are Umayra Taghiyeva, deputy minister of ecology and natural resources, human rights commissioner, Sabina Aliyeva, and Bahar Muradova, the chair of the state committee on family, women, and children’s problems.
However, though Aliyev was (only after intense backlash) prompted to make the U-turn, She Changes Climate stresses that it isn’t enough.
‘This is positive progress but we are still far from a 50:50 gender balance,’ says co-founder Elise Buckle.
‘This is a quick fix but not enough. ‘It is not just that women make up half the population, but it is also because women are pushing the hardest for action on climate change – in boardrooms, in the streets, in courtrooms. We need their voices.’
